Our (soon-to-be) apartment

So we came to Germany in August for our look-see visit to get the lay of the land and to do some minor apartment hunting. Nothing too serious or intensive. More to give us a well rounded idea of what was available on the market in our price range. The very first one we saw happened to be the one we ended up picking. Not because of how it looked for you can see from these pics that there is a lot to be done yet before we move in on November 15 (pls God), but because of its potential. The owners of the apartment are planning on moving into the apartment after we vacate and they are going all out on the rennovations and appliances.  There will be a private patio out front, heated large italian tiles in the living/dining room area. Beautiful hardwoods in the bedrooms. Designer floor to cieling tiles in the bathroom. And most importantly, a kick ass kitchen. Most apartments here in Germany (and Europe I believe) are rented out here with no kitchen. As in, you walk into the apartment to view it and there is this completely empty room with water and electrical hook ups. No lights. No counters. No oven. No dishwasher. No stove. No fridge. Nothing but the walls and floors. Not us. The owners of the apt are going over the top with high end everything. We won't have to spend $2K out of our own pocket at Ikea for the cheapest kitchen they have. We'll have an amazing kitchen that costs over $10K that includes zebrano wood countertops and an American sized fridge with an icemaker. Nobody and I mean nobody has that here. And the apartment will come with kitchen, hallway and bathroom lighting. Also normally not included. Normally, you have to buy all your own lighting for your apartment. As in you have to buy all kitchen, cieling, bathroom, hallway and bedroom lights. Basically, you get the space and have to fill it from scratch. I think the toilets, showers, bathroom mirror and bathtubs are the only thing that come with the apartments normally. 

Our soon-to-be-ready (pls God) apartment is also quite large compared to other local apartments. It's around 1200 sqf compared to most others hovering around 400-800 sqf. I think most of this is due to the lack of compartmentalization in our apartment that you'd normally get in a european apartment. Most apartments here have a long and narrow hallway leading in from the front door. Each room is set off of this hallway. No rooms connect. Again, this is for most of the older apartments here. Our apartment is one huge front room that will be the entry/living room/dining room. It butts up to our open/raised kitchen. Then there is a pantry, hall closet (closets are very rare here. you normally buy an armoire), large bathroom/laundry room and two large bedrooms at the end of a short hallway. All rooms have several large privacy windows that are mirrored on the outside. You can see out, but you can't see in.

We are on the ground floor. Partially submerged actually. This should help with heating and cooling bills actually and it's also the reason why the rennovations are taking so long. The weather has been cool and damp lately and the water sealant that they are basically coating the outside brick facade and internal brickwork with is drying ever so slowly. Once that is done they can finish the inside and then focus on the external work. They'll be adding balconies to the few floors above us and creating a private patio for us. The courtyard will also be finished and landscaped and the building will be re-painted. All by years end. Of course, because the sealant is taking so long to dry we have our doubts about the move in date. I think it will be more like end of November. That's ok though. The company will be ever so kind enough to pick up the hotel tab until then.

These pics here basically show the apt. from the outside and do not paint a pretty picture. Yet. Fortunately, G and I have lots of vision and just know this is going to look fabulous when it's all said and done. We can't wait to show you the finished result pictures!